Prudentialhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/7375/all
enAd of the Day: Prudential Visits Madagascar's Fishermen for This Gorgeous, Moving Filmhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-prudential-visits-madagascars-fishermen-gorgeous-moving-film-164385
David Gianatasio<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/prudential-fishermen-hed-2015.jpg"> <p>
Consistency&mdash;supposedly the hobgoblin of small minds&mdash;might seem like an unlikely driver for evocative brand storytelling. Yet, Lowe Cape Town and Prudential South Africa have created memorable, moving short films illustrating the company&#39;s credo that &quot;Consistency is the only currency that matters&quot; when it comes to managing clients&#39; money.</p>
<p>
Their latest effort is &quot;The Fishermen,&quot; directed by Kim Geldenhuys via production house 0307. Shot on a lush, remote island off Madagascar and cast with local villagers, it tells the story of a young boy and his grandfather who venture out on their boat, day after day, in search of a big catch, undeterred by empty nets and long, hard hours at sea.<br />
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&quot;It&#39;s a very simple analogy which conveys Prudential&#39;s message in a humble and poignant manner,&quot; Lowe executive creative director Kirk Gainsford tells Adweek. &quot;We wanted to steer clear of all the clich&eacute;s of showing aspirational people getting ahead in life and so on.&quot; Ultimately, he says, the film is meant to subtly convey the message that &quot;the power of the human spirit, not the force of big business, is what makes Prudential an enduring brand.&quot;</p>
<p>
&quot;The Fishermen&quot; has no dialogue, relying on moody but ultimately uplifting imagery and music to make its point. The brand tie-in, straightforward and unforced, doesn&#39;t appear until nearly the end of its 1:45 run time.<br />
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-1.jpg" width="652" /></p>
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-3.jpg" width="652" /><br />
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Stylistically, the film marks a shift from <a href="https://youtu.be/pERXSU330vM" target="_blank">&quot;South Pole,&quot;</a> a much-praised Lowe-Prudential ad from 2013 that told the tale of Robert Scott&#39;s calamitous 1911-12 Antarctic expedition.</p>
<p>
&quot;In the &#39;South Pole&#39; TV ad, we showed very powerfully what happens when one is not consistent,&quot; says Prudential South Africa marketing chief Sumayya Davenhill. &quot;In this TV ad [&quot;The Fishermen&quot;], strategically, we really wanted to show the power of being consistent &hellip; in a positive way.&quot;</p>
<p>
Adweek chatted further with Lowe&#39;s Gainsford about the new commercial:</p>
<p>
<strong>How did you pick the location?</strong><br />
We felt that the village should be humble but proud. The village had to survive on the fish, so a sense of it being remote was very important to us. Some other locations felt too desperate and impoverished. These are poor people by world standards, but live happy lives.<br />
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-4.jpg" width="652" /></p>
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-5.jpg" width="652" /><br />
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<strong>Can you tell me more about the village?</strong><br />
Nosy Iranja&mdash;it&#39;s a small island village about four hours from the mainland. There are about 300 people who live on the island. There is no electricity, no toilets for the villagers and no running water. A small school serves the children&#39;s education, and for supplies the villagers use their sailing boats to travel to the mainland and other islands.</p>
<p>
The whole village was involved. The cast is villagers. The boy was from a neighboring island, and the grandfather another island&mdash;they weren&#39;t actually related. The boy&#39;s father is also featured in the ad. The casting process was very interesting. The people of Madagascar speak Malagasy. We used interpreters we met on the island to try and communicate. Even the interpreters don&#39;t speak English well.<br />
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-7.jpg" width="652" /></p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-8.jpg" width="652" /><br />
<br />
<strong>&quot;The Fishermen&quot; feels different than &quot;South Pole,&quot; stylistically. Why the change in approach?</strong><br />
We don&#39;t see them as that different. They are both human stories, both show human grit and determination in a very physical and humbling way, and both are in extreme environments. The &quot;South Pole&quot; ad showed blizzards and freezing temperatures, while the fishermen in the new ad had to contend with 100 percent humidity, hot days and heavy downpours during the cyclone season.</p>
<p>
And so, while the ads may appear to be different on the surface, to us they remain very much part of the same family, with the same values and common touch. The biggest difference was focusing on the positive and not the negative aspects of consistency.<br />
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-9.jpg" width="652" /></p>
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<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/2015_Apr/prudential-fishermen-10.jpg" width="652" /><br />
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<strong>You must have encountered difficulties on the shoot, given the location.</strong><br />
It was a real challenge. There is no film industry in Madagascar. We only had 16 crew, including a media and a boating specialist. Our catering was eating what the village ate: fish and sometimes chicken. The heat was often unbearable. I had to change my T-shirt three times a day as the humidity was so intense; I would be dripping with sweat.</p>
<p>
The days were long and with no electricity we made do with one generator. The camera crew was very lean. Stomach bugs were rife. We stayed in rustic chalets on the island. Shooting took five full days, plus a couple of days on either side for travel. We also had to wait for a cyclone to pass before shooting could start.</p>
<p>
<strong>On a personal level, what did you take away from the experience?</strong><br />
The project reminded me of why I got into this business in the first place. Our courageous client trusted us throughout the whole process&mdash;willing us to be better, do better and try be more creative. The experience shows that great client trust, dedication and old-fashioned hard work can lead to beautiful results.<br />
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<strong>CREDITS</strong><br />
Agency: Lowe Cape Town<br />
Producer: Riska Emeran<br />
Executive Creative Director: Kirk Gainsford<br />
Creative Director: Alistair Morgan<br />
Art Director: Bruce Harris<br />
Account Manager: Sarah Hall<br />
Sound Design: Stephen Webster, TheWorkRoom<br />
Music Production: Pulse<br />
Editor: Kobus Loots<br />
Editing Company: Upstairs Post<br />
Postproduction House: Black Ginger<br />
Production Company: 0307 Films<br />
Producer: Tess Tambourlas<br />
Director of Photography: Alard De Smidt<br />
Director: Kim Geldenhuys<br />
Assistant Director: Craig Brorson</p>
Advertising & BrandingAd of The DayAfricaLowePrudentialSouth AfricaDavid GianatasioAgencyWed, 29 Apr 2015 13:59:30 +0000164385 at http://www.adweek.comHere Are Forbes' 50 Most Influential CMOs of 2014http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/here-are-forbes-50-most-influential-cmos-2014-161273
Kristina Monllos<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/phill-schiller-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Male chief marketing officers on Forbes&#39; third annual Appinions&nbsp;CMO Influence Study,<em> </em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2014/11/07/the-worlds-most-influential-cmos-2014/" target="_blank">which was released today,</a> are 22 percent more influential than their female peers. Although women make up 32 percent of the influencers on the list, they only have a 21 percent share of the influence.</p>
<p>
According to Forbes&#39; study this means that &quot;their opinions received either a lower quantity of reactions, were reacted to by less influential people, or their opinions and the reactions to them appeared in less impactful publications.&quot;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
From July to October <a href="http://www.adweek.com/topic/forbes" target="_blank">Forbes</a> analyzed data on the top 500 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 Largest Companies List and over 100 million articles. The CMOs were ranked by how they have established themselves by sharing opinions that and generate significant reactions.</p>
<p>
Check out who made the list below:&nbsp;</p>
<p>
1. Phil Schiller, Apple<br />
2. David Lauren, Ralph Lauren<br />
3. Tim Mahoney, General Motors<br />
4.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fast-chat-fords-jim-farley-talks-fusion-marketing-143814" target="_blank">Jim Farley</a>, Ford<br />
5. John Frascotti, Hasbro<br />
6. Kristin Lemkau, JPMorgan Chase<br />
7. Trevor Edwards, Nike<br />
8.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/these-5-dynamic-duos-are-nailing-digital-marketing-159165#industrial-artiste-1" target="_blank">Beth Comstock</a>, General Electric<br />
9. Seth Farbman, Gap<br />
10. Alain Visser, Volvo<br />
11. Matt Jauchius, Nationwide Mutual<br />
12. Richelle Parham, eBay<br />
13.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/martines-magic-103261" target="_blank">Martine Reardon</a>, Macy&#39;s<br />
14. Kevin Krone, Southwest<br />
15. Olivier Francois, Fiat Chrysler<br />
16. Stephanie Linnartz, Marriott<br />
17. Andrew Nocella, American Airlines<br />
18. Barb Rechterman, GoDaddy<br />
19. Blair Christie, Cisco<br />
20. Anne Finucane, Bank of America<br />
21. Russell Wager, Mazda<br />
22. Jim Berra, Carnival<br />
23. Jeremy Burton, EMC<br />
24. Alan Gershenhorn, UPS<br />
25. Tony Pace, Doctor&#39;s Associates (Subway)<br />
26. Keith Weed, Unilever<br />
27. Dorothy Dowling, Best Western<br />
28. Ola Kallenius, Mercedes-Benz<br />
29. Dana Anderson, Mondelez<br />
30. Ariel Kelman, Amazon<br />
31. Michael Zuna, Aflac<br />
32. Jeannine Haas, Avis Budget Group<br />
33. Karen Quintos, Dell<br />
34. Ken Chaplin, Trans Union<br />
35. Khaled Elkhouly, Etisalat<br />
36. Lorraine Twohill, Google<br />
37. Mark Hug, Prudential Financial<br />
38. Roel de Vries, Nissan<br />
39. Mike Wege, Hershey Company<br />
40. Brian Smith, Lexus<br />
41. David Christopher, AT&amp;T<br />
42. Loren Angelo, Audi<br />
43. Deanie Elsner, Kraft<br />
44. Roy Benin, Mars<br />
45. Ann Mukherjee, Frito-Lay<br />
46. Andrea Riley, Ally Financial<br />
47. Ann Glover, Voya Financial<br />
48. Jeffrey Hirsch, Time Warner Cable<br />
49. Andy England, MillerCoors<br />
50. Johan Buse, SingTel<br />
&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingAflacAlly FinancialAmazonAmerican AirlinesAppleKristina MonllosAudiAvisBank Of AmericaBest WesternCarnivalchief marketing officerCiscoCMODellEbayEMCEtisalatFiat Chrysler AutomobilesForbesFordFrito-layGapGeneral ElectricGoogleHasbroJP Morgan ChaseKraftLexusMacy'sMarriottMarsMazdaMercedes-benzMillerCoorsMondelezNationwideNikeNissanPhil SchillerPrudentialRalph LaurenSingtelSouthwestSubwayTime Warner CableTrans UnionUnileverUpsVolvoVoya FinancialFri, 07 Nov 2014 13:00:02 +0000161273 at http://www.adweek.comAdidas Makes Gains Among Black Consumers, L'Oréal Lagshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/adidas-makes-gains-among-black-consumers-loreal-lags-151446
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/adidas-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Adidas, E*Trade, Geico and Land Rover are a few of the brands that have made the biggest gains in terms of positive awareness among black teenagers and adults during the last year, per <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/newmediametrics-weighs-new-tv-season-135340" target="_blank">NewMediaMetrics</a> (NMM).</p>
<p>
NMM, which surveyed 3,400 African Americans ages 13 to 64 about brand-related &quot;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/newmediametrics-weighs-new-tv-season-135340" target="_blank">emotional attachment</a>,&quot; found that Land Rover was the most popular brand across product categories while Lexus, Nike and Mercedes-Benz trailed closely behind as the luxury car niche showed well.</p>
<p>
Honda and Toyota were the most popular economy car brands, while Hennessy (beer/alcohol), Walmart (retail), Starbucks (beverages), Clorox (households), Kelloggs (edible consumer-packaged goods), Aflac (insurance), Visa (credit cards), Charles Schwab (financial) and Joe&#39;s Crab Shack (restaurants) led their respective categories.</p>
<p>
Overall, 35 brands improved their demo-focused NMM index scores by 15 points or more <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/study-blacks-more-attached-media-brands-whites-142549" target="_blank">compared to last year</a>, said <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/newmediametrics-gary-reisman-wants-fix-pilot-season-147360" target="_blank">Gary Reisman</a>, CEO of the New York-based marketing and research firm. He said Kohls, Verizon, Oscar Mayer Lunchables, Hotels.com and Expedia are other examples.</p>
<p>
While nonanalysts might be surprised that Converse beats more prolific shoe sellers like Reebok and New Balance when it comes to favorable awareness with African Americans, Reisman said that result jibed with what he&#39;s seen in the space. &quot;Converse has done some fantastic product integrations and nontraditional marketing and advertising,&quot; he explained.</p>
<p>
Brands losing their emotional connection to black consumers during the last 12 months, per NMM, include L&#39;Or&eacute;al, Prudential, Farmers, Travelers, Nationwide, Droid and Vonage.</p>
Advertising & BrandingAflacAfrican-Americansblack AmericansCharles SchwabCloroxChristopher Heinedemographic researchDemographicsDroidE*tradeFarmersGeicoHennessyJoe's Crab ShackKelloggsL'OréalLand RoverLexusMercedes-benzNationwideNewMediaMetricsNikePrudentialResearchStarbucksTravelersVisaVonageWalmartPackaged GoodsFri, 26 Jul 2013 11:17:21 +0000151446 at http://www.adweek.comDavid Droga Talks Management Moveshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/david-droga-talks-management-moves-148680
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/fea-aoy-us-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
As the saying goes, success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. Well, today Droga5, riding a <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/drogas-delicious-world-145813?page=2 " target="_blank">wave of revenue growth</a> from marketers such as Kraft, Coca-Cola and Prudential, recognized its many fathers (and mothers), promoting CEO Andrew Essex to vice chairman and president Sarah Thompson to CEO. At the same time, executive creative director Ted Royer rose to chief creative officer, group cds Kevin Brady and Neil Heymann became ecds and account management chief Susie Nam added the role of general manager. Founding father and creative chairman David Droga discussed with Adweek the rationale for the moves.</p>
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David Droga<span class="meta-credit"> Photo: Gavin Bond</span></p>
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<p>
<strong>Your agency has been blessed through the years with continuity in leading roles. Is there any secret to that?</strong><br />
You hire well and just make sure you have enough runway for everyone to grow in the company&rsquo;s success. It creates loyalty and opportunity, really. We&rsquo;ve grown enough where people can have the elbow room to be successful. But we do look at people&rsquo;s roles and work out how we can groom, protect and nurture them. We look at things beyond just what it is today.</p>
<p>
<strong>At bigger agencies, the title of vice chairman is sometimes the kiss of death: it&rsquo;s nebulous, undefined and non-essential. But in your world, how do you define that role for Andrew Essex?</strong><br />
Well, Andrew has always been a fantastic partner with me. I had one foot grounded in running the day-to-day business [in the past]. But [this promotion is about] having a partner that can also help me try and map out and work out where we&rsquo;re going and how we&rsquo;re going to get there. Sarah is a spectacular partner in this agency and really runs the day-to-day [operation]. But sometimes we have our head in the trough and sometimes we want to look over the horizon. And Andrew, right from the beginning, he wasn&rsquo;t in the industry. So, he brought a really unique, different perspective to it. You can see that not only in the diversity of our clients and diversity of our output but also we&rsquo;re trying to push into new places in technology. It&rsquo;s good to have someone who is a day-to-day partner with me looking into those places.</p>
<p>
<strong>Does his new job encompass looking over the horizon at where you want to be globally, what other cities you&rsquo;d like to open in?</strong><br />
Yeah, sort of. I meant that metaphorically more than anything. I&rsquo;m more obsessed with canvasses and opportunities than I am with geography as such. Not that I&rsquo;m anti-global expansion. That&rsquo;s inevitable but that&rsquo;s not necessarily the definitive and only way we&rsquo;re looking at growing. I&rsquo;m not going to measure our success by pins on the map.</p>
<p>
<strong>That said, are you considering a third office beyond New York and Sydney? Are we going to see another office in say six months&rsquo; time?</strong><br />
You mean like New Jersey [where Prudential is based] or something like that?</p>
<p>
<strong>I was thinking more like Germany [where another client, Puma, is based]. But different clients, right? You have other cities on your wish list?</strong><br />
I think it&rsquo;s inevitable we will have [another] presence&mdash;probably in Europe first. There&rsquo;s been talk of that for years. And there are a lot of clients that want us to go there and there&rsquo;s good reason to go. For us, it comes down to the partnership of who you&rsquo;d be in business with and how that would complement our global offering.</p>
<p>
<strong>Amsterdam? London? Germany?</strong><br />
There&rsquo;s good reason to be in all of them. I&rsquo;ve worked around the world. So, I have a soft spot for Asia, I have a soft spot for London. But I feel like again, if I open an office in Amsterdam, it wouldn&rsquo;t be because I wanted to dominate the Netherlands. Or if I had an office in London, it wouldn&rsquo;t be because I want to build a British agency. It would be, how can I build a global agency that just happens to be located in one of those countries?</p>
<p>
<strong>What did you mean by new canvasses?</strong><br />
Other ventures, maybe in a physical space. It doesn&rsquo;t need to be [just] ventures in the digital space. Other partnerships and such. Andrew is as much a great connector as a great thinker. I just want us to have the elbow room to be able to think about where we&rsquo;re going because we&rsquo;re an industry that really is always looking down at today, which is fine because that helps us get through the day. But then we&rsquo;re always surprised as an industry when we trip ourselves up. It&rsquo;s good to have a co-pilot who can help me navigate that.</p>
<p>
<strong>What CEO qualities do you see in Sarah?</strong><br />
Sarah is maybe one of the calmest people I know and she&rsquo;s just a natural leader of people. People trust her across all departments. She&rsquo;s obviously very bright&mdash;that&rsquo;s a given. She obviously subscribes to what our ambitions are, believes in the power of creativity and all that. And her bias is toward us being the smartest agency; it&rsquo;s not toward any department. &hellip; Composure and intelligence go really well together in this agency because we&rsquo;re a chaotic, passionate agency.</p>
<p>
<strong>Given the agency&rsquo;s success recently, I&rsquo;d imagine that your leaders get approached from time to time. Are some of these promotions designed to ward off poachers?</strong><br />
A title can&rsquo;t make you happy, you know what I mean? How much you get paid only makes you happy twice a month. At the end of the day, you really want to be in a job, in a role where you feel that you&rsquo;re living up to your own potential. [These promotions] certainly were not made as a defensive move; it was made because it&rsquo;s the right thing to do.</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingAndrew EssexCoca-ColaDavid DrogaDroga5Kevin BradyAndrew McMainsNeil HeymannPromotionsPrudentialSarah ThompsonSusie NamTed RoyerThu, 18 Apr 2013 22:52:23 +0000148680 at http://www.adweek.comThe New York Times Tries Another Interactive Ad Unithttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/new-york-times-tries-another-interactive-ad-unit-148350
Lucia Moses<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/nyt-prudential-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
In keeping with its experiments to create interactive, shareable ad units, The New York Times is running a front-page ad takeover for Prudential that lets users see the front page of the newspaper from the day they were born once they punch in their birthdate. For the ad, the paper created a directory with over 110,000 thumbnails of Times front covers from 1863 to 2002&mdash;all told, roughly 55,000 covers, according to a Times rep. The ad includes buttons that let readers share the covers on Twitter and LinkedIn.</p>
<p>
The Times has been on a tear creating ad products that take advantage of the value of its own content and the social Web. Last year, it introduced Ricochet, a tool that lets advertisers piggyback on a Times article wherever it&rsquo;s read. The Prudential ad recalls one such ad the Times carried for the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/new-york-times-goes-really-old-school-147196">National Geographic Channel</a> in February using TimesMachine, the paper&#39;s digital archive. That ad incorporated the front page of the Times from April 15, 1865, the day after President Lincoln was assassinated, to promote the channel&rsquo;s new drama, Killing Lincoln.</p>
<p>
While the Times has been praised for taking an innovative approach to advertising&mdash;especially for such a traditional publication&mdash;these kinds of initiatives may well invite backlash from editorial purists who would bristle at the mingling of editorial and advertising. For now, though, the Prudential ad has been getting positive reviews on Twitter:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Very neat. Prudential has an awesome ad on the @<a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes">nytimes</a> that lets you see the NYT cover from the day you were born: <a href="http://t.co/y8UIR5G7SR" title="http://www.nytimes.com/?prudentialtimeline">nytimes.com/?prudentialtim&hellip;</a></p>
&mdash; Danielle Butterfield (@likebutterfield) <a href="https://twitter.com/likebutterfield/status/319084532508790784">April 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Superb execution of Prudential ad at <a href="http://t.co/FqigGCBxdd" title="http://nytimes.com">nytimes.com</a>. See the NYT cover on the day you were born.</p>
&mdash; Gennady Kolker (@GENN4DY) <a href="https://twitter.com/GENN4DY/status/319087263344623617">April 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Cool Prudential ad showing you @<a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes">nytimes</a> front page on the day you were born. <a href="http://t.co/3UDsPTwwkq" title="http://ow.ly/jF8Hs">ow.ly/jF8Hs</a></p>
&mdash; Patrick Doyle (@patrickcdoyle) <a href="https://twitter.com/patrickcdoyle/status/319080637791342592">April 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Advertising & BrandingThe PressOnlinePrudentialSocialsocialLucia MosesTwitterNewspaperTue, 02 Apr 2013 15:00:57 +0000148350 at http://www.adweek.comDroga5 Ups Bauer to Chief Strategy Officerhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/droga5-ups-bauer-chief-strategy-officer-143304
James Cooper<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/tt-cooper-droga-9-3-12.jpg"> <p>
In an effort to swim insight further upstream in client talks and compete for new business on a larger global canvas, Droga5 has promoted Jonny Bauer, its head of strategy, to the newly created role of chief strategy officer.</p>
<p>
Bauer will oversee strategic planning at the agency across digital, brand planning and analytics groups. Recent Droga5 hires Chet Gulland, Ted Florea and Becky Wang will lead those teams, respectively. Droga5 has a total of 22 planners in its New York headquarters.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;This is an effort to make sure our strategic output is current in order to help build and sustain the most influential brands of the 21st century,&rdquo; said Bauer, who joined the agency four and a half years ago from BBH New York.</p>
<p>
Droga5 has a diverse client list, with Puma, Kraft and Prudential among its biggest. The agency also posted a big win with Coke Zero in early August.</p>
<p>
A large part of Bauer&rsquo;s mandate is to grow the agency globally beyond New York and Sydney. Agency founder and creative chairman David Droga said his team is eyeing Asia and South America. Droga said the agency won&rsquo;t move into a region merely for the sake of being there but will expand as the opportunity arises. &ldquo;We want it to be predicated on a like-minded client,&rdquo; Droga said.</p>
<p>
Still, the subtext is that day is coming soon, which is where Bauer comes in with strategy.</p>
<p>
Droga had high praise for Bauer&rsquo;s abilities. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the biggest brains in the industry,&rdquo; said Droga, adding that Bauer&rsquo;s promotion &ldquo;frees him up to think, which is what he does best.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
The Australian-born Bauer, 36, cut his teeth at London-based branding consultancy A Vision before jumping to BBH London and New York and then Droga5.</p>
<p>
In concert with his promotion, Bauer has put together what he&rsquo;s calling a &ldquo;cultural consultancy&rdquo; group. The group, called Point, is made up of hundreds of global advisers ranging from rocket scientists to experts on Greek culture (one of the six Kraft brands Droga5 works on is the Athenos line of feta, hummus and other Mediterranean foods). &ldquo;This takes us beyond the traditional communications channel and shows us where to point our potent creativity,&rdquo; Bauer said.</p>
<p>
Echoing Droga, agency president Sarah Thompson said Bauer is at once restless and intellectually generous in his approach to planning and insights. Thompson said Bauer would be charged with thinking not only about clients strategically but Droga5 as well.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t aspire to be the biggest agency, but the smartest,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;We want to grow in the right way, and we&rsquo;re elevating Jonny to help us do that.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Asked who in the agency/media space is particularly smart about insights, Bauer singled out Pixar for keeping technology and humanity in balance to &ldquo;produce things that people actually want.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Pressed for what kind of businesses he&rsquo;d like to take on as his agency girds for growth, Bauer&rsquo;s ambitions are clear. &ldquo;We wouldn&rsquo;t say &lsquo;No&rsquo; to an automotive client,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingBecky WangChet GullandCoke ZeroDavid DrogaDroga5James CooperPrudentialPumaTed FloreaCreativeAgencyMon, 03 Sep 2012 11:42:30 +0000143304 at http://www.adweek.comAfter 10 Years, Marquee Midtown Tunnel Billboard Gets a New Tenanthttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/after-10-years-marquee-midtown-tunnel-billboard-gets-new-tenant-137309
Tim Nudd<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/prudential-272.jpg"> <p>
One marquee billboard location in New York City is shifting its attention from jet-setters to retirees. British Airways has owned the Midtown Tunnel billboard visible to commuters just as they arrive in Manhattan for more than 10 years. As of today, Prudential is taking it over, beginning with a teaser campaign from Droga5 linked to the brand&#39;s &quot;Day One Stories&quot; campaign, in which the agency asked people across the country to document their very first day of retirement. <a href="/node/136701">(We wrote about the TV component here.)</a> The first teaser board went up Tuesday morning, showing a single photo of a new retiree&#39;s &quot;Day One.&quot; New photos will be added on Thursday, next Monday and Wednesday&mdash;with a full collage of retiree photos and the final branding unveil on day five, which is a week from Friday. More creative executions and unique tie-ins are planned for the board in the coming year. It&#39;s an interesting media choice. More than 1 million vehicles per month use the Midtown Tunnel, and getting people to think about retirement probably isn&#39;t that difficult after a tough commute by car into the city. After the jump, more mock-up images of what the board will look like.</p>
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Advertising & BrandingDroga5FinanceOut Of HomePrudentialRetirementTim NuddAgencyTue, 03 Jan 2012 21:00:19 +0000137309 at http://www.adweek.comAd of the Day: Prudentialhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-prudential-136701
Tim Nudd<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/prudential-day-one-stories.jpg"> <p>
Historically, the problem for advertisers in talking about retirement is that, for many people, it&#39;s a topic that lacks immediacy. That&#39;s changing. For 74 million baby boomers, the prospect of retirement is quite real&mdash;for some, all too real. Droga5 and Prudential saw the opportunity to seize on that reality&mdash;and its attendant hopes and anxieties&mdash;in a new advertising series that considers retirees one at a time, in mini documentaries, on their very first day off after a lifetime of working.</p>
<p>
How do these retirees feel about their new reality? Are they scared? Hopeful? Prepared? Can they inspire and learn from each other? Those were among the questions Droga5 sought to answer with the &quot;Day One&quot; campaign. Making just one pre-screen phone call to each subject, the agency showed up with Epoch documentary filmmakers Everynone and let the cameras roll. The results, as seen in the spot below, featuring Mujahid Abdul-Rashid on his first day of retirement, are quietly poignant&mdash;and visually quite beautiful. They&#39;re meditations on what has come before&mdash;and what lies ahead. The danger of ads like these is that they can quickly descend into sentimentality and schmaltz. There&#39;s some of that here, but the spots aren&#39;t uniformly treacly. &quot;For lack of a better word, I didn&#39;t want to suck as a father or as a grandfather,&quot; Abdul-Rashid says. Yet he also admits: &quot;I actually envisioned and looked forward to the time of being a grandfather. It&#39;s almost like I had skipped the father part.&quot; For those frightened by retirement, it&#39;s admissions of fallibility like these that will make the series seem honest&mdash;and Prudential, by extension, worth trusting.</p>
<p>
The clever structure of the campaign&mdash;filming people&#39;s Day Ones&mdash;is classic Droga5. The agency and client did something similar last summer with a spot that used 100 cameras to <a href="/node/132306">film the same sunrise from coast to coast.</a> But that effort was more gimmicky&mdash;you had to be told it was the same sunrise, or you&#39;d never know. This series is much more grounded, and feels more relevant. The spots, which include a 30-second TV commercial, point to a new website, <a href="http://www.dayonestories.com" target="_blank">DayOneStories.com,</a> which collects the photos, films (there are currently four others) and collective wisdom of the subjects&mdash;and also, of course, highlights the Prudential tools that may help you prepare for when your Day One arrives.</p>
<p>
Of course, there&#39;s a limit to just how much reality Prudential wants to embrace. Fact is, the baby boomers face a truly frightening retirement crisis. Millions have not properly saved for their retirement, and some believe a majority of middle-class workers will end up living at or near the poverty line in their old age. Naturally, Prudential has little interest in such a pessimistic outlook. &quot;Throughout this generation, there is a hope and a belief that they will make it through. They will be OK,&quot; say the campaign&#39;s press materials. Whether or not that&#39;s true, this campaign certainly makes it seem like something critically worth pursuing.<br />
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<strong>CREDITS</strong>:<br />
Client: Prudential<br />
Campaign: Day One/Retirement<br />
Spots: &quot;Mujahid,&quot; &quot;Linda,&quot; &quot;Gary,&quot; &quot;Nadine,&quot; &quot;Hermann&quot;<br />
Agency: Droga5, New York<br />
Creative Chairman: David Droga<br />
Executive Creative Directors: Ted Royer / Nik Studzinski<br />
Group Creative Director: Kevin Brady<br />
Copywriters: Graham Douglas / Michelle Hirschberg / Colin Lord<br />
Art Director: Ben Wolan<br />
Creative Director: Neil Heymann<br />
Interactive Designer: Ronaldo Jardim<br />
Interactive Executive Producer: Andrew Allen<br />
Interactive Producer: Jason Curtis<br />
Interactive Production Company: Domani Studios<br />
Head of Integrated Production: Sally-Ann Dale<br />
Executive Producer: Scott Chinn<br />
Strategy: Steve Grant<br />
Account Director: Emily Brooks<br />
Client VP, Head of Advertising: Colin Mcconnell<br />
Production Company: Epoch Films<br />
Director: Everynone<br />
DP: Everynone<br />
Executive Producer: John Duffin<br />
Producer: Sean Hobbs<br />
Production Supervisor: Colin Moran<br />
Editor: Everynone<br />
Post Production: Cut + Run<br />
Additional Editorial: Georgia Dodson<br />
Executive Producer: Rana Martin<br />
Flame Operator: Joey Grosso<br />
Music: Unseen Music<br />
Composer: Keith Kenniff<br />
Sound: The Royal T House<br />
Mixer: TTT</p>
Advertising & BrandingAd of The DayDroga5PrudentialCreativeAgencyWed, 23 Nov 2011 17:03:11 +0000136701 at http://www.adweek.com